Fringe Wizardry
by kerithwyn
Summary: The situation is becoming dire, but the wizards are on the case. Chapter 2 written in a sprint, on the occasion of CrossingsCon. [Gen]
1. Fringe Wizardry

Fandom: Fringe, Young Wizards

Characters: Astrid Farnsworth, Olivia Dunham, Charlie Francis, Phillip Broyles, special guest stars

Summary: The situation is becoming dire, but the wizards are on the case.

Notes: Written for Crossovering 2015 for sprocket. Thanks to Carmen and Nora for suggestions!

Inspired by "Adjunct Talent" by Sprocket, though set in yet another universe one step over; not Blue nor Red nor precisely Amber, but most like the latter.

* * *

 **2009**

For the past three months, Fringe Division had been tracking down Agent Dunham's fellow Cortexiphan subjects. They'd already brought a few in safely, like Olivia's childhood friends Nick Lane and Miranda Greene. All evidenced some kind of emotional trauma, compounded by the destructive potential of their abilities. Astrid was glad they were finally getting the help they needed, both psychological and practical.

But the search had become a race against time. Some of the former subjects had been recruited by ZFT terrorist David Robert Jones as part of his insane plan to accelerate the destructive vortexes plaguing the planet. Increasing entropy in its rawest form, Astrid knew. But Fringe Division was dedicated to stopping the spread of the disasters, or at least mitigating the effects. And they had allies, unknown to them.

Today the team had tracked down one of Jones' first and most dangerous disciples. Sally Clark was a full-bore pyrokinetic. And a full-bore fanatic. She laughed as she threw firebombs toward them, not heedless of the damage she was causing but reveling in it. Her aim was haphazard, but sooner or later—

Right on cue, one of the fireballs streaked directly toward their position. Maybe Olivia would survive the blast—her immunity to the others' abilities wasn't predictable or reliable—but the rest of them would literally be toast.

Astrid had no choice. She threw out her hand and shouted a word, and the fire splashed off an invisible shield as the air briefly turned solid. Others might have been able to convince the flames to go around them, but fire wasn't Astrid's specialty. Protective magic was.

Astrid's teammates, thankfully, didn't pause to gawk. Charlie dashed forward and neatly clipped Sally under the chin, dropping her to the ground.

Crisis past, Astrid took a deep breath as Olivia and Charlie turned to stare at her. "I can explain..."

* * *

The explanation took a while.

Thankfully, both Olivia and Charlie were inclined to take her at her word. After the year they'd had since Fringe Division was established—after dealing with men who walked through walls and transgenic monstrosities—they'd adapted to the hidden realities of the world. "Magic," as far as they were concerned, was another manifestation of what they'd been dealing with all along.

Not particularly accurate, but fuller understanding could wait. Astrid explained, as far as she was permitted, that her assignment to Fringe also included her typical wizardly duties: enhancing the protective wards and "see me not" spells around the Boston transport gates. She didn't specify that the gates included ones that linked Earth to other worlds, leaving that revelation for another time.

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "You mean we could have been...teleporting...between Boston and New York all this time?"

Astrid shook her head. "Not really. There's a cost to using the gates, like with any energy expenditure. Civilians, uh, need special dispensation. And wouldn't instant travel be hard to explain to the boss?"

"Touché," Olivia murmured, but she still looked thoughtful.

Charlie, on the other hand, seemed undecided. "You're _sure_ you're not really a Cortexibrat like Livvy?"

Astrid laughed while Olivia huffed and failed to look outraged. "Really really sure."

"And your abilities...you haven't felt the need to use them before now?"

Olivia's tone was mild, but Astrid caught the gist. She looked her colleague in the eye and said truthfully, "I have, but you didn't need to know when I did. I've used small effects mostly to facilitate things that were already happening. Except..." she took a deep breath and turned to Charlie. "I did help 'convince' the hybrid larvae that you weren't the right host for them."

"Bishop's cure..." Charlie started, but Astrid shook her head.

"Wasn't quite enough, and anything stronger he might have used would have killed you. The compound made it easier to encourage them to leave." She added with a twinge, "I would have preferred not to kill them, given another choice. But their biology was intrinsically flawed, and—"

"I can't be sorry about that," Charlie snapped. He got up and left Olivia's office without another word.

"He'll be okay," Olivia said when Astrid started to follow him. "Let him process. He's grateful to you, and so am I."

Astrid sat back down and spread her hands. "Think of it like— Well, my abilities really aren't very much like yours, but think about what it takes out of you to use them."

Olivia nodded slowly. "You said, 'There's a cost.'"

"There's always a cost. If there isn't...look for the hidden catch." Or the temptation of the Lone Power, Astrid thought but didn't say. "But yes, now that I'm out of the wizard closet—" she grinned at Olivia, and Olivia smiled back— "it'll be easier to contribute my other talents. Although..." she hesitated for just a moment. "I really would prefer to keep this from Dr. Bishop."

Olivia tilted her head. "You think Massive Dynamic doesn't already know about the existence of wizards?"

"'What don't they do?'" Astrid quoted the company slogan with some irony. "Maybe. But I don't want to clue him in to the existence of magic if he doesn't already know. He'd probably want to take me apart. Literally."

"That's a fair concern." Olivia, of all people, should know. She'd gone looking for a remedy for her former partner's exposure to toxic chemicals and unearthed Dr. Walter Bishop: eccentric, unpredictable, and firmly ensconced (and monitored) in the depths of Massive Dynamic's most experimental laboratories. He was lent out to Fringe by the direct orders of MD's Chief Operating Officer Nina Sharp and had been their consulting scientist-in-residence ever since.

His release from the Massive Dynamic labs allowed Bishop to follow up on some of his old projects...or victims, depending on how you looked at it. He'd been delighted to be reacquainted with Olivia, his most prized subject from the Cortexiphan experiments. Olivia had been less than pleased, but she'd agreed to the necessity of working with Bishop in light of the surge in fringe events.

In return, Massive Dynamic agreed to help any of the other subjects who were suffering aftereffects of the experiments. And when Olivia discovered that a terrorist named Jones had been exploiting their abilities for his own ends, the hunt for her childhood friends began in earnest.

Astrid had tried to maintain some empathy for Walter Bishop. He'd lost his son Peter to illness when the boy was only seven, and his wife Elizabeth had committed suicide shortly thereafter. He'd taken their deaths as a mandate to explore the furthest reaches of fringe science, eventually attempting to breach the walls between the world and the next universe over.

Those walls were much thinner than he could have known. His attempts caused chain reactions that eventually led to tears in reality opening everywhere, manifesting as vortexes and inter-dimensional rifts. Nina Sharp took him under Massive Dynamic's wing (and virtual house arrest) to contain the damage and, to her credit, turned her company's seemingly infinite resources to combating the problem.

And to give _him_ credit, Walter Bishop's innovations since then had expanded the reaches of science and contributed significantly toward Massive Dynamic's bottom line. But he was an angry man, and bitter, and he never stopped reminding everyone that he was the smartest person in any given room. The last thing Astrid wanted was to become the subject of his too-sharp scrutiny.

"But I think it's also fair," Olivia said without allowing room for argument, "to inform our supervisory officer of his employee's newly revealed status."

Astrid contemplated that for a moment, gulped, and nodded. She'd known there would be consequences to revealing her abilities. And truth always strengthened the bonds between people and therefore the larger universe. It was, Astrid thought with a resigned sigh, her wizardly duty as much as her responsibility as an FBI agent.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Astrid entered her boss's office. She'd been less nervous facing her Ordeal, but she'd been a lot younger and far more naïve then.

She met his cool gaze and dived in. "Sir, this might be difficult to swallow, but...I'm a wizard."

Astrid was prepared to follow up with an explanation and a probable demonstration, but the way Agent Broyles was regarding her so calmly threw her off her game plan.

"I am not on errantry," he replied in perfectly fluent Speech, "but I greet you nonetheless."

She gaped at him. Broyles smiled thinly and continued mostly in English. "The rest of the world remains _sevarfrith_ , but Fringe Division is a special case. Given the current circumstances."

"The breach events," Astrid said. She knew many of her fellow wizards were working on the problem, but her Advisory hadn't mentioned that they'd joined forces with the civilian authorities. Maybe he'd wanted her to evaluate the efforts of Fringe Division's nonwizards on their own merits. If that was the case, her teammates had passed with flying colors.

And Agent Broyles was evidently one of those rare nonwizards who had acquired facility with the Speech. That talent usually developed through close contact with wizards over a significant period of time, but she didn't feel it was her place to ask. He was still her boss. "Sir, now that we're on the same page, would it be appropriate for our division to begin consulting with the Advisories?"

He nodded slowly. "EAD Skinner and I have been discussing the possibilities."

And that—that made so much sense. Of course the former head of the X-Files would have learned about wizards somewhere along the line. Fringe Division had the latitude it enjoyed thanks to Walter Skinner's experience with the precursor to the division. From what Astrid knew about the EAD, he wouldn't hesitate to use any resource at his disposal. "I can request a meeting with the Manhattan Senior, if that would be appropriate."

Broyles sighed. Astrid empathized; it couldn't be easy to acknowledge that your best efforts simply weren't equal to the task. But wizards had always worked behind the scenes to protect the world from chaos. Now they'd just be a little more visible to the nonwizards most involved in that battle. "Set it up, Agent Farnsworth."

* * *

 **2010**

A year later, Astrid's job had and hadn't changed.

The team was still investigating fringe events, but Astrid was acknowledged at full Special Agent rank, no longer Olivia's assistant. Officially she was just another agent in a small overworked division; unofficially, she was the liaison between Fringe Division and the wizards attending to breach events along the northeast corridor. Not an Advisory, because her own day job kept her far too busy to consult regularly on their workings. But where the languages of science and magic collided, Astrid was there to provide a translation.

There'd been losses. Amy Jessup's death still hurt, and it galled Astrid that all the power potentially at her command hadn't been enough. But her Ordeal had driven home the fact that magic couldn't save everyone—or solve every problem. It was a lesson that kept repeating.

The cases had become more complex, "weird science" manifesting at greater extremes by the increasing stresses of the breach events. The whole world was out of whack, as Charlie liked to say; when the laws governing physical reality started to bend, the impossible became everyday.

That made it easier to disguise wizardry in public spaces, but no wizard found that fact any kind of consolation.

Usually, those kind of displays ended up taking place in the middle of a crisis. They hadn't found any reliable way of stopping events before they started. But the wizards had collectively managed to create a kind of sensitive "web" over critical areas that sent out a magical alert when a breach event began. Pinpointing the source of a disruption as it started gave them time to put a team in place, at least. And most important, save lives.

On the morning of May 13, a significant breach alert sounded in Brooklyn. Olivia, Astrid, and Charlie headed over to the site—a restored opera house—to confront the impending tear in reality. They had backup on call at a moment's notice, a network of wizards ready to lend their energy toward containing the situation. The raw power of the Long Island teenagers Nita Callahan, Dairine Callahan, and Kit Rodriguez had averted more than one potential catastrophe, whether they were physically at the scene or otherwise.

Astrid hoped their intervention wouldn't be necessary, but she wasn't holding her breath.

The Fringe team reached the theater just as a hole began to open in the air above the stage. It didn't look like the usual kind of breach—less chaotic, more _deliberate,_ somehow—so Astrid made a judgment call and watched, carefully, as the ripple in the air clarified to reveal four people in a circle, surrounding a fifth.

And then the distortion was gone, leaving the five figures behind. One of them collapsed onto the floor and the others bent over him, clearly concerned, and that more than anything provoked Astrid into action. She started running toward the stage, Olivia pacing her.

"Astrid, that's _me_ ," Olivia said in a fierce whisper as they went, "and Nick and Walter."

Astrid hadn't even registered their faces. Now she saw that the newly arrived Olivia Dunham wore her blonde hair much longer than Astrid's colleague, but she seemed much the same otherwise. The other Nick Lane had an unfamiliar scar on his face, and he was holding a swaying woman who Astrid recognized with a start as Sally Clark. Or another version of her, anyway. This group's Walter Bishop was wearing a grubby sweater that the man Astrid knew wouldn't be caught dead wearing. The man on the ground wasn't familiar to her, but Olivia caught her breath as they ran up the stairs.

Astrid saw his face and had to repress a shudder. He'd broken out in...boils, tumors maybe, and his breathing was labored. The other Olivia looked up, narrow eyed, as they approached.

"Let us help," Olivia said in her accept-no-arguments manner, and the other Dunham nodded her reluctant assent.

Astrid stretched her hand toward the man on the ground, feeling for his energy. "He's being eaten alive by—"

"By his own ability," Bishop said, watching her closely. "James expended too much energy in the crossing. Sally, too."

There was no time to dissemble. "His name and birth date?" Astrid snapped.

Both Olivias replied in unison: "James Heath." They eyed each other as Astrid's colleague finished, "May 12, 1979. I've got Sally."

Astrid nodded her thanks, too busy constructing a quick spell diagram to speak. This wouldn't be pretty, but it'd keep Heath alive until his body regained its own strength. Astrid poured energy into him through the spell, watching with satisfaction as the tumors visibly shrank. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Olivia holding her hand to Clark's forehead, using her Cortexiphan ability to stabilize the other woman.

Heath drew in a long gasping breath. Astrid disengaged the spell, feeling like she'd just run a marathon. She'd pay for the energy expenditure, but saving a life was worth the cost.

"'Any sufficiently advanced technology,'" Bishop murmured, like he was assuring himself of the impossibility of the alternative.

Dunham had held perfectly still during the intervention, but now she leaned in again to check on James. Naturally wary, Astrid thought, just like her Olivia. And just as forthright. "We're in the wrong place," she told Astrid and Olivia.

This wasn't the first time they'd had a brush with alternate universes, but it was a new record for extended contact. Astrid was determined to ensure it remained peaceful, and she knew Olivia felt the same. She saw Dunham's eyes widen in surprise as she caught sight of Charlie. There would, Astrid thought wearily, be a lot of 'splaining to do.

* * *

Notes:

Sevarfrith: "a place where wizardry must be conducted under cover."

EAD: Executive Assistant Director. Skinner got a much-deserved rank bump.

Head canon: This Broyles' mother was a wizard.


	2. Overture

The return of William Bell.

I had wanted to post this in well advance of CrossingsCon, but due to RL and continued creative blockage, this squeaks in just under the wire.

Thanks to Spocket for the encouragement (even if I didn't finish quickly enough for the generous offer of beta!); again, this is for her.

Fair warning: As the title suggests, this is the prologue to an extended story that I will likely never finish.

* * *

Astrid wasn't a particularly notable wizard, as wizards went.

Oh, certainly she held up her end of the Oath, and she was never at a lack for work: the dimensional breaches and environmental disruptions caused by Walter Bishop's initial violation of the walls between the worlds were enough to keep any wizard busy, in addition to her full-time job at Fringe Division dealing with those repercussions on a more mundane level.

But she'd never saved an entire world from extinction, or helped shepherd a new life form into existence, or come into direct conflict with the Lone Power—although of course, every intervention was in some small way defiance of Its very nature and purpose. Even her Ordeal had been a personal affair and nearly negligible in external effect, when measured against the deeds of young wizards who had taken on that One face-to-face and lived to tell about it, or even initiated a new spectrum of possibilities by defeating or outright changing one of Its aspects.

And granted, no wizard would make that comparison, knowing that every contribution—no matter how seemingly trivial—added up in aggregate to combat entropy in all its forms. More to the point, Astrid certainly had no desire to confront that Power in any more concrete fashion; her accumulated local victories had preserved the lives of countless individuals living within her sphere of influence, and that was triumph enough for her.

She also knew better than to wish for a more significant role. The Powers That Be were likely to hear that sort of request, and grant it in the most disquieting fashion. There were always battles to be fought against the Lone One, on Earth and elsewhere, and the Powers were not shy about deploying Their wizardly assets as They deemed fit. Astrid had never been sorry that her talents were more suitable for use at home, on a decidedly local level.

Her local level needed all the help it could get. Judging from reports by older wizards, and in comparison to stories told by wizards from other worlds and other dimensions, her world had seen very few active instances of the Lone Power flexing Its muscle in the past twenty or so years. Ironically, that silence was a more worrisome than Its usual machinations. As if...as if her world was so inevitably doomed that It didn't feel the need to expend effort toward the active advancement of entropy. The vortexes and breach events were doing that just fine on their own.

But believing the cause was already lost was a good way to make it so. Astrid didn't spend a lot of time thinking about the machinations of demiurgic beings; she had too much work to do. It took greater and greater effort to close vortexes and mend holes in the "fabric" of the physical universe these days. The gates to other worlds were shut more often than not to prevent disruptions from seeping through or—worse—to keep those gates from themselves deforming into uncontrolled rifts. The cats who oversaw worldgate management were not at all pleased about the focus of their wizardly specialty shifting from active transport to passive safeguarding. Astrid sympathized, but she (and they) knew that without their efforts, even a closed gate might decide to misbehave.

So Astrid was exceedingly surprised, one Thursday afternoon, to hear of an unscheduled press conference being held by Massive Dynamic that evening...specifically to include a statement by the elusive founder William Bell himself. No one had seen or been allowed to speak to Bell for many years, and it was common speculation that the man had died or become a shut-in recluse, leaving Nina Sharp to run the company in his stead. Through her wizardly sources, Astrid knew that Bell had instead jumped headlong into first the alternate universe Bishop accessed and then gone on into other dimensions from there, seeking a cure for his world's troubles. Senior gate manager Rhiow confirmed that Bell hadn't arrived via any worldgate, so the question of his world-hopping technique remained a mystery. His methods had nothing to do with wizardry, but at least his unknown means seemed less destructive than Bishop's had been.

Astrid gathered with her Fringe Division colleagues to watch the conference: senior agents Olivia Dunham and Charlie Francis, and newly recruited Lincoln Lee. Olivia was frowning slightly, and Astrid thought she knew why. Despite all the good her Cortexiphan abilities had done, it couldn't have been easy to see the man who'd decided it was a good idea to experiment on children with untested drugs. And perhaps she was equally disturbed by the fact that Nina Sharp, their liaison to Massive Dynamic regarding all things Fringe, hadn't given Olivia any notice about Bell's return.

Bell looked much as he had before his disappearance, although the craggy lines of his face reflected years of hard traveling. He stepped up to the microphone, clearing his throat. "To everyone listening tonight, thank you for your attention. I won't keep you long. We're all busy people—and I expect to be busier imminently. Questions about my absence will have to be tabled for another time. In short, I've returned with a plan to save the world. I went looking for a solution to the vortexes and atmospheric anomalies that have been destroying our planet, and I've found one."

He held up his hand for silence against the shocked and excited outcries from the gathered crowd. "I will be consulting with my colleagues at Massive Dynamic and other scientists around the world, who should have just received invitations to a summit to put the plan into motion. Massive Dynamic will be footing the bill for all expenses in this endeavor, and details will be made to all governments and individuals as appropriate. I realize how perilous it might sound, the idea of putting the world's fate in the hands of one man. But the desperate circumstances of our world demand both audacity and immediate action. I am prepared to do whatever it takes to save this world, and I call on my colleagues to do the same.

The time for half-measures is over. Now we must act with decisiveness, and I trust that the proven successes of my career will give you all the confidence to take these next steps with me."

He nodded as if receiving agreement from all who heard his challenge, and strode quickly off the stage.

Nina Sharp stepped up to the microphone, her manner brisk and inviting no opportunity for interruption. "Dr. Bell and I will not be taking questions at this time. Massive Dynamic will have a prepared statement shortly. Thank you." She followed Bell, leaving a swelling outpouring of shouted questions and wild cheering behind them both.

"Well," Olivia said, very softly, "that's something." She was already reaching for her phone, which buzzed in her hand as she drew it out of her pocket. "And that's Nina," she told the others, glancing at the screen. She moved away slightly to take the call.

Lincoln was frowning. "Can he do it?"

It was, Astrid supposed, the question of the day. Charlie shrugged, his casual response barely masking his excitement. "Guy gave kids superpowers and built Sharp's bionic arm. What can't he do?" he said, mimicking Massive Dynamic's corporate slogan. "I gotta call Sonia, she's gonna be freaking out."

Astrid's poker face had nothing on Olivia's, but she tried to guard her expression as Lincoln turned to her. "What do you think?"

"I think," she said slowly, "that whatever's going on, we'll be in the middle of it shortly. We are theoretically the experts on what he's trying to fix."

"A terrifying notion in and of itself," Lincoln said, but he'd been with the division long enough to recognize that their small group had been at the forefront of dealing with fringe events, even before the rest of the world started seeing the effects of Walter Bishop's meddling. As if mirroring her thoughts, Lincoln said, "I'll arrange for Bishop's caretakers, if we're hauling him out of the mad scientist dungeon for the duration."

Astrid nodded gratefully and he went to attend to the task. "Caretakers" was a polite way of saying "guards"; after what Walter Bishop had done to the world, no one dared leave him without supervision. The members of Fringe Division had better things to do than babysit his every whim, as much as they depended on his erratic genius.

And thinking of better things: Astrid pulled her wizard's manual out of its otherspace pocket and flipped to her entry. As she'd expected, her status had changed to "on active status; assignment location as required." More surprising was the addendum that should she call on them, all wizards were to render her immediate aid and cooperation, superseding their own assignments.

That...was not the usual order of things. Certainly Bell's reappearance offered significant hope toward alleviating the breach events plaguing their world, and Astrid was the liaison between Fringe and the wizards dealing with those events along the northeast corridor. But she already maintained working ties with them and never had cause to fault their dedication or support. The manual's note suggested something more in the offing.

She took a deep, steadying breath. She'd never met William Bell—he'd gone "traveling" well before her introduction to Fringe Division. Olivia's secondhand recollections and Astrid's own discomfort with the idea of the Cortexiphan experiment had left her with a faintly negative impression. And something about his voice or manner at the press conference bothered her on a level she couldn't define. But none of that mattered; if he'd truly found a solution to the breach events, she would do everything in her power to see it through.

"In Life's name," she murmured to herself, and went to join up with the others to see how Fringe Division could help.

* * *

When Astrid met William Bell in person three days later, all her disquiet came home to roost with a vengeance.

They'd gathered few details about his intentions in the meantime; Bell had been too busy meeting (physically and virtually) with prominent scientists and world leaders to grant them an audience. Even Olivia had been denied access, despite Nina Sharp's assurances that Fringe Division's collected data was essential to the plan.

But when the summons finally came for the team to visit Massive Dynamic's New York facility, they were ready and on board a chartered flight within the hour. Walter Bishop complained bitterly about being shuttled back and forth for no reason, particularly since "that charlatan" could scarcely have devised a solution Bishop hadn't already thought of and discarded as unworkable. Astrid had been prepared for an uncomfortable flight, but once they were on board, Bishop swallowed a pill he'd secreted about his person and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

So deep, in fact, that he was still unconscious and couldn't be roused when they landed an hour later. "Take him to the hotel. We'll collect him later," Olivia told his caretakers, who were well versed in Bishop's history of escape attempts.

"Not back to Massive Dynamic?" Lincoln asked.

Olivia's slow shake of her head spoke volumes. "I'd rather keep him in FBI custody for the moment."

Which meant she didn't entirely trust Sharp—or Bell—to continue allowing them open access to Dr. Bishop if for some reason he disagreed with Bell's solution. He might be arrogant, eccentric, and unpredictable, but given enough data and time to extrapolate, he was rarely wrong when it came to fringe phenomena.

The Massive Dynamic facility proved as impressive as always, if a bit cold and stark for Astrid's taste. Right now it buzzed with activity, all its residents seemingly energized by Bell's return and his still-undefined promises. The king has returned, Astrid mused, and wondered why she found the thought so troubling.

The team was escorted to Nina Sharp's office, where they were met by the Chief Operating Officer herself. "Olivia, all of you, I apologize for the delay," Nina told them. "William has been overwhelmed with meetings, as you can well imagine. But I insisted he make time to meet with you."

"Much appreciated," Olivia said. "We're eager to hear about his plan and how Fringe Division can help."

"Your work has been critical," Nina said again, her assurance sounding a bit thin to Astrid's ear.

Olivia hadn't missed it either. " _Has_ been?"

But Nina Sharp hadn't gotten where she was by rising to easy bait. "I'll leave it to William to share the details. His plan is quite complex." Her gaze sharpened. "I trust you're taking good care of Dr. Bishop?"

"Sleeping peacefully," Charlie drawled, in that easy cadence that meant his every sense was on high alert. "I'm sure he'll have a lot to say about the plan, whatever it is."

"No doubt," Nina said, almost dismissively. And that struck Astrid wrong too; Nina might not like Walter any more than the rest of them, but she'd never failed to appreciate his genius.

A chime emanated from Nina's desk. "Ah, here he comes now."

William Bell strode into the office as if he owned it—which, of course, he did in all practical terms. "The vaunted Fringe Division team! A pleasure to meet you at last, Agents Francis, Farnsworth, Lee...and of course, Agent Dunham. We have so much to catch up on, you and I."

He included all of them in his greeting, but his attention was on Olivia. From what Astrid had gathered, Bell was the original instigator of the Cortexiphan experiments, however much Walter Bishop protested that his contributions had been irrelevant next to Bishop's achievements.

Nina Sharp looked nearly worshipful as Bell said, "Thank you for all the work you've accomplished, and for your patience these last few days. Rest assured, your efforts have helped shape part of my approach to solving our problems."

"I'm less concerned with what we've done," Olivia said, on target as always, "than where we go from here."

"I did tell you," Nina murmured, and Bell barked a laugh.

"To the point, then. In a nutshell, my plan is a larger scale version of what you've already been doing: fighting fire with fire. Using fringe technology—and other assorted capabilities—to counteract breach events."

As he spoke the room had significantly darkened, though no one but Astrid seemed to have noticed. When she looked at Bell more closely—

His eyes were very dark now, and she knew him. Or rather, what was living inside him. Bell's voice said, "You and I both know your tiny interventions won't save this world."

No one else reacted, and she realized he'd spoken to her alone in a manner none of the others could hear.

Astrid took a long breath and held it a moment before replying. "Fairest and Fallen," she said, doing to level best to keep her voice and everything else from trembling, "greetings and defiance."

The Lone Power behind Bell's face rolled his eyes. "Yes, of course. All the usual tedious unpleasantries aside, I thought it might be best to get the introductions out of the way before the real fun begins."

"I doubt your definition of 'fun' matches mine in any way." Astrid glanced at her colleagues, seeming frozen in time while she spoke to...this being. "Or theirs. It's their world, too."

"And they have done so very much to keep it spinning. Especially Olivia, here. What a wonder she is." The admiration sounded genuine, and that unnerved Astrid more than anything else. "But that's why I've come! Our interests truly do align. You've been fighting to keep this world from being destroyed. Through the genius of this man, I can offer a solution."

The offer was, by definition, too good to be true. "To...save the world? At what cost?"

"When you're drowning," the Lone Power purred, "does it matter who throws you the rope?"

Astrid went hot, then cold, pressing her lips together tightly. That was one of her father's favorite rhetorical questions, and the Lone Power certainly knew that. But invoking her father had done nothing to convince her of Its sincerity.

It sighed, waving a dismissive hand. "No matter. The nonwizardly powers of this world have already signed on. Since you've been at the forefront of the battle, I thought it was only fair to let you know I was on your side for once."

Astrid gave It a narrow look. "You know how this will go. You offer a bargain, I refuse, whatever interference You were planning falls flat, we keep on fighting..."

It looked honestly surprised. "Offer you a bargain? Why would I? You legitimately have nothing to offer Me than any number of more powerful wizards might provide in far greater measure. But I won't be bothering with them, either. Consider this a courtesy call, discourteous as you've been. I don't need your acquiescence and care nothing for your defiance."

The Lone Power smiled suddenly, radiating good humor with all of Bell's considerable charisma. "Be at peace, wizard. All shall be well, and all shall be well—"

"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose," Astrid shot back, incensed beyond hope of control.

"As long as you perceive Me so," the Lone Power told her, "that's all you'll ever see. But aren't wizards supposed to keep their perspective open to change?"

"You—" Astrid began, but the room was light again, and Bell was still holding everyone in thrall with the general shape of his plan.

He glanced at her and winked, and Astrid shuddered. Had that been the real Bell, or...?

Maybe there wasn't a difference any longer, and it probably didn't matter regardless. Whatever the Lone Power was planning, it fell to her to stand against Its design. And therefore, she realized with dismay, against the wishes of the rest of the world.

But not alone. Never alone, as long as other wizards drew breath; and she would always place her faith in her Fringe colleagues. The Lone Power thought Olivia was a wonder? It hadn't seen anything yet. Charlie's steadiness and Lincoln's tenacity would keep Astrid from losing heart. And she had her own strength, tried and tested over the past several difficult years.

"It always matters," she said subvocally, in the Speech; "but when you throw your rope, mind what you catch."

* * *

Nattering:

Bell/the Lone Power's plan, which I will probably never get around to writing: basically, shunt the disruptions/vortexes/anomalies "elsewhere"—through portals into other universes. Out of sight, out of mind. As far as most of the populace of this Earth is concerned, Bell is the genius who will save them all. The wizards, however, understand that his plan condemns the other universes to horror...and increases the entropy of this already-fragile one. So Astrid, who (IMO) doesn't actively seek out conflict, has to set herself against the world's supposed savior. Thankfully, she has Olivia Dunham on her side.

I had the very distinct feeling that Astrid's Ordeal was a "small" personal one, rather than along the lines of the extremely explosive debuts of the canon YW kids. But that doesn't mean it wasn't important. See Word of God on Ronan's Ordeal, which seemed from the outside very low-impact, personal, and Lone Power-free: post/96301546751/is-ronan-an-abstainee-it-seems-like-his-ordeal

(Ronan's Ordeal, which had to do with accepting and internalizing a power larger than himself, proved to be preparation for a much more dramatic example of that principle. I don't have the shape of Astrid's Ordeal yet, but I would expect it to follow the same pattern.) Bell is overshadowed by the Lone Power like Pralaya, although in Bell's case, he might be very well aware of his cohabitating "guest"...or even have invited It in.

I nearly used a comics quote in this fic. "You offer salvation. I prefer to make my own!" (Psylocke, _New Mutants Annual_ , 1986)


End file.
